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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1996  > September  >
In The Laboratory
Conductivity, A Simple Method to Probe Micellar Solutions
Steven J. Bachofer
Saint Mary's College, Moraga, CA 94575
Cover
September 1996
Vol. 73 No. 9
p. 861

Abstract
A conductivity experiment on the tetradecyltrimethylammonium X-benzoate surfactants and the corresponding sodium X-benzoate salts demonstrates how this physical property can be applied to the study of the complex equilibria of ionic micellar aggregates. The surfactant CMC and fractional ionization constant (alpha) values are determined from the conductivity measurements. A student class studies the surfactants, in which a number of substituted benzoate counterions are utilized, and can be introduced to Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) to explain the resulting CMC values. High quality data can be recorded with ease. The data from a student class illustrate that CMC values are sensitive to the hydrophobicity of the X-benzoate anion. However, hydrophobicity is not the only important parameter to be considered. The student class can propose other important factors with some additional reading of the colloidal literature.
More Information
*  Citation
J. Chem. Educ. 1996 73 861.
*  Keywords
*  History
Created:
Last Updated:
September 21, 1999
February 21, 2006
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1996 > September > Page 861


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